Row brews over control of toilets
Challenged. Trends Events is challenging the process in which KCCA handed over the management of Kampala city toilets to a rival firm. PHOTO BY RACHEL MABALA.
What you need to know:
- According to available data from KCCA, Kampala has a day population of at least 4.5m people, majority of who depend on public toilets.
- However, a simple survey conducted by Daily Monitor revealed that the available public toilets are always overwhelmed. This means that if they are poorly managed, a health crisis such as breakout of diseases could ensue.
Kampala. A row is raging between Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and a service provider who is protesting the manner in which KCCA allegedly sought to contract another firm to manage city public toilets.
According to a KCCA Fourth Quarter report dated November 3, 2017, Trends Events was contracted to manage some public toilets but after the contract had expired in 2015, the firm challenged a new bidding process that warranted unnecessary extensions.
The process has since been halted pending disposal of the appeal that was filed at Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets.
The report compiled by KCCA executive director, Jennifer Musisi noted that the appeal [filed by Trends against the bidding process] had delayed the awarding of the contract to the selected bidder “hence there has been an extension of their contract for four more months”.
Trends Events, whose contract had expired in 2015, has to-date continued to manage part of the 16 city toilets dotted across Kampala.
However, Ms Musisi does not indicate which new service providers were contracted.
Daily Monitor could not get a comment from Trends Events as their known telephone number was out of reach by press time.
The contract
According to the report, Trends Events had under the expired contract been mandated to manage toilets at Constitution Square, Entebbe Road, Usafi Market and Taxi Park, Nakawa Market and Centenary Park.
However, the contentions in regard to the contraction of new service providers, has made it hard for KCCA to hand over contractual obligation to new service providers.
The Kampala Lord Mayor, Mr Erias Lukwago, questioned Ms Musisi’s report, arguing that there was no way she could be ‘worried’ of the controversy surrounding the management of city public toilets.
“Let her not cry over this because she is partly to blame for causing all this controversy,” he said, adding that Ms Musisi illegally nominates members who work within KCCA to the contracts committee, which undermines its independence and efficiency.
According to Mr Lukwago there is need to streamline that whole system if conflict of interest is to be avoided.
Daily Monitor could not get a response about Mr Lukwago’s claims because KCCA spokesperson, Mr Peter Kaujju’s known telephone contacts were out of reach.
